In Aracaju in the state of Sergipe, Brazil, the Cozinha Escola Experimental Solar (CEES) (Experimental Solar Kitchen School) was inaugurated in August for the purpose of working in poor communities to guarantee nutrition and provide education about basic food handling concerns, as well as the construction and use of solar ovens, and for scientific experiments with renewable energy to study the current efficiency of the CEES.

The Experimental Solar Kitchen School is financially supported by UNESCO, The Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), and the State Secretary of Inclusion, Assistance and Social Development (SEIDES) of the government of the state of Sergipe. The project has been promised funding until January of 2010. The coordinator in chief of the project, Dr. Prof. Paulo Mário Machado de Araujo is currently seeking partners that can ensure the continuation of the project.

Every day groups of youth and women participate in workshops relating to the use of the sun for cooking, using techniques from the Theater of the Oppressed (teatro do opromido) to train future workshop leaders who can multiply the knowledge of the use of solar ovens for cooking with the sun. There are workshops for energy, environment, and development; sustainable technology and sources of renewable energy; health and nutrition; healthy food handling practices and the right to basic nutrition; and the use of solar cookers as a social technology in food preparation.

The workshops also include other applications for solar energy like disinfecting water and drying fruits and vegetables. Every day they offer 50 free meals, cooked with solar ovens, for the workshop participants. They plan to be able to offer 100 meals a day by November. 120 people have currently signed up for the workshops, by January they hope for more than 500, all of which will be possible future community leaders spreading solar cooking knowledge.

The following solar ovens are in use at the CEES: 5 parabolic solar ovens, 10 olas (HotPot), 1 Sun Oven box type oven, 2 manufactured box type solar ovens and two hybrid solar/ electric ovens produced in India. There are also 10 cardboard box type solar ovens being constructed by young people in workshops.